Even though customized manhole covers cost more than generic ones, today nearly 95 percent of the 1,780 municipalities in Japan have their very own specially designed manhole covers in strategic places.

WHILE you are walking in cities and towns in Japan enjoying beautiful scenery in the distance, do not forget to look down. Japanese manhole covers have become well known and much shared online for their often colorful and elaborate design.

China has already become a major manufacturer and exporter of renewable energy technology, supplying some two-thirds of the world’s solar panels. The country also has a strong grip on wind power. It produces nearly half of the world’s wind turbines – at a rate of about two every hour.

Coal still makes up the largest part of China’s energy consumption, but Beijing has been shutting coal mines and set out plans last year to cut roughly 1.3 million jobs in the industry. The Chinese government has also moved to restrict the construction of new coal power plants.

The furthest point from land, the most remote place on Earth, is called the “Oceanic pole of inaccessibility”, which has been nicknamed Point Nemo, after author Jules Verne’s famous seafaring anti-hero Captain Nemo. The name means “no-one” in Latin. The place is so rarely visited by people.